It fell on a bonny summer day,
the plough and the courting.
Gypsies appeared to set sail
on pints of beer and bottles of sherry.

My bride, i'll sing you a ditty,
we'll go dancing a rig-a-jig-jig.
It's all here in the music
of our dear native land.

The above short poem was composed by myself using key words and phrases from Topic Records ( celebrating 69 years in the record business and still going strong ) 'Voice Of The People Series'. A 20 CD set collecting together songs that are hundreds of years old, performances some 60, 70 or 80 years old and all of the songs would have been lost, arguably, were it not for the efforts of Topic Records. Topic aren't just rooted in the past, they host new recordings by Eliza Carthy, among others. Taking some kind of lead from the remarkable survival of the independant Topic Records then has been Navigator Records, picking up so many talented new folk artists their roster is already becoming something of a treasure trove. All of this is a long way from major labels like EMI or even 'indie' labels such as Domino or 4AD, as laudable as said labels actually are. Rock music is a funny business, you see. Always expected to progress, evolve, indie-rock bands have instead become stuck in some kind of ever-decreasing circle. Rock music has simply branched out into too many smaller, different directions in a desperate attempt at providing something new. Every major form of music has at some point run dry in the innovation stakes - it certainly happened to both Jazz and blues before it happened to rock. Indie bands were seen as somehow imune, at least until the nineties dawned when very few truly independant labels managed to survive.

The Folk music of the British Isles is therefore something a little special and worth celebrating. The above two record labels are prominent examples, but there are so many young musicians attracted to this scene now, that folk-clubs up and down the land regularly report the arrival of dozens of attractive youths drinking and getting merry. Just as it should be. It's all a weird turnaround. Parents are as likely to like Coldplay as their teenage offspring yet folk-music seems to have skipped an entire generation, apart from in those pockets of the country like Northumberland where this music has always held a special magic.
It's got to the stage now, happily for folk music fans, where a lot of the most talented young singers and musicians aren't forming indie-rock bands, they are forming folk groups. Long may it continue.

Also, if you are an aspiring musician, the common grounding hundreds of years worth of traditional folk material gives you offers an amazing opportunity. You couldn't for example record a bakers dozen of indie-rock faves from the 80s in a traditional 'indie-rock' style and get away with it. You'd be asked for original material, some kind of marketing or image to hook the publicity around, etc. Yet, as an aspiring folk musician, you have access to songs and tunes that are freely available for you to discover and sing. You can record in your bedroom or the front room of a pub in more or less the same fashion people did a century ago. Nobody is going to say, 'where is the original material'? As long as you bring talent and enthusiasm and joy for the material, you can do this. It's music truly for the common man, folk never was supposed to be elitist and it does sometimes annoy me the little cliques that build up on-line surrounding the major folk artists. Almost as if unless you are following your favourite artist up and down the country and know the singers 2nd cousin, that somehow you're not quite on the in-crowd. That's a minor annoyance for me personally, the music is certainly all-inclusive. Pioneering acts such as Bellowhead and Eliza Carthy set old tunes to modern styles whilst the likes of Lisa Knapp or Lau simply being a freshness to the material and their enthusiastic, honest approach shows through. You might not make money from singing folk music, it's not a career option. Becoming a new version of The Kooks, however? Can you honestly say that's being done for the love of music and not for any financial and fringe benefits that might come your way?

Folk as the new indie? Well, remember how special indie-music seemed in the eighties. Maybe a band like Cocteau Twins and nobody else would have heard of them, let alone be buying their records. When such an act made number thirty-nine for a week in the singles charts, it was with a sense of real acheivement. The same can be said of today's folk groups. Seth Lakeman actually having a hit single and a hit album is almost unheard of for an act playing folk music. Seth's tunes all concern his environment, the history of his local area. He's following in a long, long, line of writers doing the same thing. As an aside and something of a recommendation, get a copy of 'Rock n Reel' magazine. They often have free sampler CDs on their issues and folk samplers can be joyous things. I'll even have a quick mention for internet pircacy, illegal downloading? Allison Crowe, you'll find on Jamendo. All files on Jamendo are their with the artists agreement and available for free download, with the idea being you'll be far more likely to attend a gig by that artist, at least. Allison has released two or three acclaimed works through Jamendo and is sustaining a career completely outside of the mainstream. You can't say that for Kasabian. Folk as the new indie? Perhaps it is. In 1993 i'd say to enquiring souls asking me 'what's that racket you're listening to?' and reply something like 'Gallon Drunk'. They'd leave none the wiser. These days, it might be 'What's that you're listening to, it's really great?' and i'll reply, 'Bellowhead' or 'Lau' or 'Seth Lakeman' or 'Eliza Carthy' or 'Lisa Knapp' or 'Teddy Thompson', etc.

In summary? Black is the new black, Rugby is the new Football and folk is the new indie. Recommended links follow.

http://www.rock-n-reel.co.uk/
http://www.navigatorrecords.co.uk/
http://www.topicrecords.co.uk/